The advance of technology in telecommunications has allowed a large segment of the population to own and to use wireless units operating on wireless communications systems. Wireless units such as cellular telephones and personal communication system (PCS) devices have been particularly popular. The delivery of service to these wireless units by wireless communications service providers is a competitive yet profitable endeavor. Service providers continue to seek ways to satisfy customers, and to improve and manage wireless service so as to continue to profit by the delivered services.
One manner in which service providers seek to better serve and to obtain customers is to provide for retail outlets where a customer may purchase a wireless unit and have it activated for use. A specific retail outlet may sell wireless units from many different manufacturers, but typically, a retail outlet has an exclusive relationship with a specific service provider. As part of this exclusive relationship, the retail outlet activates wireless units purchased at the retail outlet only on the network of the specific service provider. In other words, generally, when a customer purchases a wireless unit at a specific retail outlet, the wireless unit is activated so that wireless communications service to that wireless unit is provided by the service provider that has an exclusive relationship with the specific retail outlet. In return for this activation, the service provider typically pays the retail outlet a commission for each sale and activation of a wireless unit. This commission often is not insignificant with respect to the purchase price of a wireless unit.
Another manner in which service providers seek to obtain customers is to offer a subsidy with respect to the purchase price of a wireless unit when the wireless unit is activated on the network of the service provider. For example, a wireless unit's retail cost without subsidy may be $300. A service provider may subsidy the cost of the wireless unit by paying a commission of a significant amount such as $100 or more so long as the wireless unit is activated on the network of the service provider. Of course, the service provider anticipates that it will recoup its subsidy as a result of the long term service that is provided to the customer. This subsidization has been welcomed by many customers as a way in which to obtain a wireless unit that may otherwise be too expensive to purchase.
To purchase and activate a wireless unit at a retail outlet, a customer may select a particular brand and/or type of wireless unit. Typically, a sales clerk in the retail outlet then takes information from the customer including credit information so the customer may be qualified for wireless service from the service provider associated with the retail outlet. If the customer proves credit worthy, the sales clerk takes additional steps to activate the wireless unit to the network of the associated service provider. Once the activation is accomplished, the customer is handed his or her wireless unit and informed of his or her wireless directory number. The customer then typically may commence to make use of his or her newly activated wireless unit.
The purchase of a wireless unit at a retail outlet as explained above has advantages, but it also has disadvantages. From the customer's perspective, a disadvantage is that the purchase and activation process at the retail outlet takes a relatively long period of time. During busy periods, such purchase and activation may take up to two-three hours or more. Another disadvantage is that the purchase and activation process must be accomplished during the business hours of the retail outlet. Typically, business hours coincide with a customer's workday schedule or carry over into the early evening hours when the customer may be interested in following other pursuits. Yet another disadvantage is that during the purchase and activation process in a retail outlet the customer generally must provide a sales clerk with confidential information. A customer may have some trepidation about providing a sales clerk with confidential information such as the customer's income level, credit card numbers, etc. Thus, from a customer's perspective, the purchase and activation of a wireless unit in a retail outlet has at least the disadvantages of consuming time and energy during hours when a customer is most likely to be engaged in other pursuits and of raising security and privacy concerns.
The purchase and activation of a wireless unit in a retail outlet has disadvantages from the retail outlet's perspective as well. The retail outlet may sell other products or have other business than the wireless units. The lengthy purchase and activation process with respect to a wireless unit takes time and takes sales clerks away from the other business of the retail outlet. At times, the retail outlet may be overwhelmed with customers interested in purchasing and activating wireless units so the retail outlet cannot service all of such customers and/or the customers of its other business. Further, the retail outlet may be required to obtain special equipment and programs to sell and activate the wireless units and to keep such special equipment and programs confidential. The special equipment and programs and the confidentiality thereof may overburden the retail outlet.
The purchase and activation of a wireless unit in a retail outlet also has disadvantages from the perspective of a service provider. A disadvantage to the service provider is that it must pay a not insignificant commission to the retail outlet for each wireless unit that is purchased and activated to the network of the service provider. Another disadvantage is that the service provider must take some monitoring steps with respect to the retail outlet to assure that the purchase and activation process does not lead to abuses such as theft of confidential information relating to the wireless units or to customers.
An alternative to the purchase and activation of a wireless unit in a retail outlet is to allow a customer to activate a wireless unit that he or she has purchased at a retail outlet, through a catalog, or wherever. This alternative is welcomed by the many customers who do not want to spend the time for the lengthy purchase and activation process to be carried out in a retail outlet, and by the customers who do not desire to disclose confidential information in as unrestricted an environment as the retail outlet. But this alternative has a principal disadvantage. This disadvantage is that wireless units sold without accompanying activation are sold generally without a subsidy. In other words, a customer who desires to avoid the lengthy purchase and activation process at the retail outlet typically has to forego the savings offered by the considerable subsidy of wireless units sold in retail outlets.
It would appear that service providers could easily address this disadvantage by subsidizing all wireless units. But this is impractical. A service provider subsidizes a wireless unit by paying a commission on a wireless unit that is sold at a retail outlet because a wireless unit that is sold at a retail outlet is also activated to the network of the service provider. The service provider is generally assured it will recoup its subsidy by servicing the wireless unit. When a customer purchases a wireless unit at a place, other than a sponsored retail outlet, there is no assurance the customer will activate the wireless unit to the network of any particular service provider. The customer may take advantage of a subsidy provided by a service provider for the purchase of the wireless unit and then take advantage of an advantageous service contract from another service provider.
Some service providers have subsidized the sale of wireless units pursuant to a locked system of wireless units. To activate such a wireless unit, it must be unlocked. The process or instructions for unlocking the wireless unit are obtained from the service provider that subsidizes the purchase of the wireless unit. As part of the unlocking process, the wireless unit is activated to the network of the service provider providing the unlocking instructions. Pursuant to this locked system, the service provider offers a subsidized wireless unit to a customer, and also allows the customer to activate the wireless unit at his or her convenience. The service provider also gains from this locked system in that the service provider is able to recoup the subsidy by having the wireless unit activated to the network of the service provider thereby providing wireless service to the wireless unit.
But service providers are finding they may not be able to count on recouping the subsidy paid with respect to a locked wireless unit. The lock on the wireless unit may be circumvented by those who desire the subsidy from the service provider, but do not desire to be activated on the network of the service provider. Such circumvention may be the result of a too-wide distribution of the unlocking process of a particular type of locked wireless unit. For example, all of the same types of wireless units may be unlocked according to the same unlocking process. Once a person gains knowledge of the unlocking process, (legitimately or illegitimately), he or she may pass on the unlocking process to others or use the process to unlock other locked wireless units of the same type.
Another way to circumvent the lock of a locked wireless unit is to use a "back door" into the programming of the locked wireless unit so as to unlock the wireless unit without having to first obtain the unlocking process. A back door is an access to the programming of the wireless unit that may have been designed to allow for easy repair or service of the wireless unit. Thus, a locked wireless unit may be "locked" for all intents and purposes, but may be unlocked without resorting to the unlocking process provided by the service provider that subsidized the purchase of the wireless unit. As a result, the wireless unit may not be activated to the network of the service provider paying the subsidy and the service provider does not recoup such subsidy or otherwise gain from providing wireless service to the wireless unit.
Yet another way to circumvent the lock of a locked wireless unit is to break the lock or break the code that leads to unlocking the wireless unit. The lock or code may be broken in several different ways. The same lock or code may have been used for all of the same types and/or brands of wireless units. To break the lock or code, a person may work through one or more wireless units to find the lock or code. Even though the same lock or code may not have been used for all of the same types and/or brands of wireless units, the same pattern of unlocking a wireless unit using a code may have been used across the same types and/or brands of wireless units. To break the lock or code, a person may work through one or more wireless units to find the pattern, and thus, break the lock or code.
Therefore, there is a need for a wireless unit whose purchase may be subsidized by a service provider, which may be activated by a customer at a convenient place and convenient time through an easy process, and which process may result in activation of the wireless unit on the network of the service provider so the service provider may recoup its subsidy and otherwise derive benefits from the delivery of wireless services to the wireless unit. In addition, there is a need for a wireless unit that may be locked and that does not allow for the circumvention of the lock. In particular, there is a need for a locked wireless unit whose unlocking process is not distributed except to authorized person(s). There is also a need for a locked wireless unit that does not include a back door into its programming so that unauthorized unlocking of the wireless unit is avoided. There is a further need for a locked wireless unit whose lock cannot be broken such as through breaking a code that leads to the unlocking of the wireless unit.